As a former student of his, I must say this whole thing does not surprise me. We tried for a long time to make people realize some of the things we would do. If you are going to say Mr. Young is innocent until proven guilty, then that is perfectly acceptable. But please do not say the girls are lying. It's tough trying to convince people of something like that.

Mail_larry and Happyday, I'm with you both. Because Mr. Young is white, the allegations against him are seen as reflections against his profession, not his ethnicity. But let him be of Middle Eastern or African descent, and many people's view of the story would change. If he were surnamed Sanchez, the anti-immigrant comments would be legion, even if his ancestors came to the US twenty generations ago from Spain.

In the US we have to confront the oversexualization of youth and its affects on perceptions of sexuality and sexual attractiveness on people of all ages.

And while we're at it, we need to make it clear that the whole idea of male sexuality as predatory is a cultural sickness. It is not that way by nature and does not have to be that way by nurture. Some men have taken that notion and run too far. Sex is not conquest, and we need to stop promoting it as such and stop equating sex with violence.

Lives are at stake.

I am from Rocky Mount and have been keeping up on this story. I don't know if they've updated this or not, but two girls came forward and recanted their stories. I thought everyone should know that, so that they wouldn't make assumptions. Also, you have to take into account that the first girl who came forward has threatened this teacher before when he has sent her to detention. Just thought everyone should know that.

I had this guy for a teach 20+ years ago when I was in middle school. He was really creepy and often started sentences with "don't go home and tell your parent Buck Young said this" when he injected his odd opinions in history class. He left my school under Allegations of inappropriate sexual-related behavior. Obviously I don't know if he's guilty of this, but it's not an isolated accusation.

You can't judge some guilty just because they've been accused of a crime. We've got to let the evidence speak for itself, through a plea agreement, through a jury or however it unfolds. If he's guilty he needs to be punished to the full extent of the law.